When Byron Ellingson created Bargreen Ellingson back in 1960, he sauntered into the foodservice equipment industry on little more than a wing and a prayer.

When you spend a lot of time thinking about what makes a person or company deserving of special recognition, as we often do here at Zoomba Group, it is impossible not to think about the common attributes shared by FE&S award winners.

When a company has been around for 122 years, it’s easy for outsiders to think they know all there is to know about the organization. But if you think you know Wasserstrom, think again. Over the course of the company’s history, there have been only two constants: change and the Wasserstrom family. And the former would not happen without the constant prodding from the latter.

Foodservice Equipment & Supplies named The Wasserstrom Company the 2024 winner of the magazine’s acclaimed Dealer of the Year Award.

Singer Equipment Company earned the FE&S 2023 Dealer of the Year award by dramatically transforming its business in the past decade.

Foodservice Equipment & Supplies named Singer Equipment Company the 2023 winner of the magazine’s acclaimed Dealer of the Year Award.

At the inception of Avanti Restaurant Solutions 19 years ago, owner Mark Rossi included earning the title of FE&S Dealer of the Year as part of the strategic plan. Almost 20 years later when he received the phone call that the company was receiving that recognition, his initial reaction was, “Not yet.”

Foodservice Equipment & Supplies named Avanti Restaurant Solutions the 2022 winner of the magazine’s celebrated Dealer of the Year Award.

A lot has changed at Stafford-Smith Inc. since 2001, the year FE&S first recognized the Kalamazoo, Mich.-based company as Dealer of the Year.

From 2014 to 2019 Stafford-Smith saw its sales steadily increase from $137.01 million to $241.23 million, making the company the 8th largest foodservice equipment and supplies dealer, per FE&S’ 2020 Distribution Giants Study. Foodservice Equipment and Supplies named Stafford-Smith the 2021 winner of the magazine’s prestigious Dealer of the Year Award.

Picture this: In 1997, just 23 years ago, Mobile Fixture & Equipment Co. Inc. operated out of a retrofitted car dealership building with low ceilings and not so much as a forklift to move inventory. Sales were $5 million, the majority of which was generated by one rep. In a rapidly changing industry in which pressure to modernize and grow or die were becoming ever stronger, death — or at least acquisition — might have seemed imminent.

Picture this: In 1997, just 23 years ago, Mobile Fixture & Equipment Co. Inc. operated out of a retrofitted car dealership building with low ceilings and not so much as a forklift to move inventory. Sales were $5 million, the majority of which was generated by one rep. In a rapidly changing industry in which pressure to modernize and grow or die were becoming ever stronger, death — or at least acquisition — might have seemed imminent.

Foodservice Equipment & Supplies will present Harry Schildkraut, FCSI, principal and owner of S2O Consultants, with the magazine’s 2020 Hall of Fame Award.

Foodservice Equipment and Supplies named Mobile Fixture the 2020 winner of the magazine’s prestigious Dealer of the Year Award.

Numbers tell a compelling story at TriMark USA, which since 2014 has held the top spot on FE&S’ Distribution Giants ranking of the nation’s largest foodservice equipment and supplies dealers. That year, the South Attleboro, Mass.-based, company reported prior-year sales of $944 million, overtaking longtime leader Edward Don & Co. The same year, it became the first E&S dealership to pass the $1 billion milestone and has since continued to widen the gap between itself and many of its competitors.

Quiet Giants